Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Long Distance Calling
Label: Superball Music
Release: 2011
Length: 56:05
Rating: 5/5
Even though the first sparks of a new stirring flickered on the horizons of the post-metal-tinged world in Germany as far back as 2006, this story is a little different from the usual tale of music that loves slapping the prefix “post” on itself while saying precious little about what’s actually inside. Long Distance Calling tick every box that lets an instrumental band be tagged post rock or post metal, but there’s a whole lot more in the soul of this quintet of sonic aesthetes. Take the progressive urge to mash up different genres, for starters: in the impurities of what we might call Floydian dreamy metal, jazz breathes too, the way Rush would have conceptualized it, plus something even juicier. In a world of anemic musical products, the output of our nonchalant nothingness, arrogance and self-absorbed marketing abuse of musical ideas, new doors have swung open, where pleasure is tightly bound to music that goes beyond fleeting bursts of instant gratification and can become a tool for long processes of introspection and soulful catharsis. And that’s exactly the spirit in which we should introduce the five Münster enthusiasts Long Distance Calling and their incredible third, self-titled album.
What gives Long Distance Calling that mystically sweet shine? Maybe it’s the fact that they can walk the thin line between melancholic dreaminess, deep contemplation and a gorgeous, life-filled rhythmic savoring of life, all with real feeling. Two years ago it was already clear that this young band’s well of ideas was brimming, and the proof was the critically acclaimed, flawlessly finished record Avoid The Light. They’ve been set alongside names like Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Katatonia, Rush, Dream Theater and a whole sea of other gifted musicians. Their varied fan of uncensored outpourings of passion and genius doesn’t bother with the borders of genre labeling, and these instrumentals, built as wordless meditation, follow only the moods and atmospheres, painting them onto the canvas of a collective psychedelic consciousness. The upshot is that the whole Long Distance Calling album is a tasty weave of seven tracks, built hermetically, with no superfluous pieces and none missing from the mosaic of ingenious artful perfection. This is artistry, not craftsmanship, and you’ll be convinced by the opening track Into The Black Wide Open, where, after an oscillating feeling of vast outer space, you land in a thick lake of sound soaked in electronics and organic jazz. After an intro that recalls a Massive Attack oratorio, the story unfolds into a whole constellation of guitar-backed explosions, and from the very first bars Long Distance Calling build an ever-escalating tension.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5212p6lR64
The production is flawless and carefully planned, and at every moment it’s clear there’s no room for coincidence: the direction in which every track unfolds is calibrated, in line with the commandments of German precision, for maximum success and listening pleasure. Despite all that thinking behind it, though, we’re not witnessing cold rationalization stripped of warm emotion and surprising moments of daring. Your consciousness rises into the era of a more optimistic dance provocation with the track The Figrin D’an Boogie, after which your senses sway into the dreamier imaginarium of the slightly restrained Invisible Giants, followed by the surprise of an almost lounge feel in the tune Timebends. A combination of really tastefully placed guitars, fat bass and feather-light drums flows complementarily into delicate shades of keys, and halfway through the track there’s a twist into an unsuspected and slightly darker substance of more progressive impulsiveness and cathartic funkiness of perfect atmosphere. And then comes my favorite moment on the record. The track Arecibo holds everything that makes your ears glow blood-red when you listen to those exceptional moments of organic aggression in the great rhythm oratorios – of TOOL.
Long Distance Calling outdo every appealing moment revealed so far and impress with tougher arguments. After the explosion of passion, you get yet another ominous moment with the track Midleville, where you’re surprised by a vocal never heard from them before. In the name of their perfectionism, Long Distance Calling decided from day one that rather than spoil the listening with mediocre vocals, they’d every so often go for a guest voice from a list of the most coveted singers. So far The Haunted’s singer Peter Dolving has tried himself in that role, and on their third record Long Distance Calling successfully wooed John Bush, singer of Armored Saint and Anthrax. A fairly simple and raw form crosses the banks of predictability with a solo that could have been penned by David Gilmour himself, and the dynamic balance between rawness and epic mildness never cracks or hangs in the air in a way that would leave that unpleasant taste in your mouth of being cheated and duped. The closing act of this outstanding record is the instrumental catharsis of the cosmically mysterious Beyond The Void, in which the beginning and the end of the album echo, close and interweave tightly. After a little under an hour of truly intense listening, the extraordinary journey is brought to an end in a way that distinguishes aesthetes from craftsmen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mow_ve3tESE
Long Distance Calling once again prove their exceptional breadth and rich spectrum of emotion, which make genre pigeonholing impossible and totally unnecessary! Every single moment is perfect and every single strike on the instruments is justified. Between the tones and the rhythms stretches pure emotion and a growing sense of divine fulfillment, which can only make us wish we’ll soon get another flight through a motley sky, woven with feelings and the universal words of music flowing from the fingers of the artists in Long Distance Calling. A record that can’t leave you indifferent and cold, and one I more than warmly recommend!
Lineup
David Jordan – guitar
Janosch Rathmer – drums
Florian Füntmann – guitar
Jan Hoffmann – bass
Reimut van Bonn – ambient sounds
Guest musicians:
– John Bush – vocals on 6
Production
Benjamin Schäfer & Long Distance Calling
Tracklist
1. Into The Black Wide Open
2. The Figrin D’an Boogie
3. Invisible Giants
4. Timebends
5. Arecibo (Long Distance Calling)
6. Middleville
7. Beyond The Void
